North Carolina Tightens Voting Laws

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (R) “signed into law a bill requiring voters to produce a photo ID when they go to the polls, and it was immediately met with legal challenges in federal court questioning its constitutionality,” the Raleigh News and Observer reports.

“The new law brings sweeping changes to the state’s election process by reducing the early-voting period by a week, abolishing same-day voter registration and ending straight-party voting.”

Ari Berman takes a look at the lawsuits filed against the new law.

Rick Hasen: “The bottom line is that the way to fight much of North Carolina’s strict law is not legally but politically. And that’s part of the impetus for the lawsuits as well. Even if they are not wholly successful, they will keep the issue in the news. Without a compelling anti-fraud, efficiency, or voter confidence story to tell about this set of draconian laws, and with statistics showing that some of the provisions here could well impact minority voters, defenders of this law could well see their own backlash.”